Free Bandsaw; should I bother?

[joe kuless]

First off, hello to all, this is my first post.

Secondly, my dad has an 14" Central Machinery band saw with a broken table which he said I can have if I want it. I do not currently have a band saw, I think it is the only major tool I am missing at this point. It is about 10yrs old and hasn't been used for ~5yrs due to the broken table. My question; is this a half way decent tool? I don't want to mess with finding a home for it in my cramped garage and buying a replacement table if it is just going to aggrevate me due to poor quality. As I have no band saw experiance, I am not sure what to look for or what problems a low quality bandsaw will present. So please clue me in.

So far most of my wood working has been either speaker boxes or home renovation. I am pretty much a novice when it comes to working with real wood but want to try my hand at some furnature.

For anyone interested, this is a link to the speakers I built for my home a couple years ago.
http://www.angelfire.com/music5/hometheater/

[Loren Hedahl]

I had an old Craftsman 12 inch bandsaw, the one with the aluminum frame, for years that was a bit less than marginal in performance. I replaced it with a new Delta 14, one of the last US made units and stuck the Sears out in a shed on the back 40.

For some reason, I brought it back in one winter day and gave it a complete tune-up, some of which bordered on re-manufacturing. Since that time it cuts so well that it is permanently set up with a narrow fine-tooth blade and I find I actually use it more than the Delta.

So I would think there is hope for your Central Machinery bandsaw. There is really no magic in this. Just careful attention to detail and alignment. Good luck.

Loren

[Mike Murray]

I really like the subwoofer end table. Nice idea and well done.

[Bruce Page]

Joe, it is worth at least what you paid for it! If you have even the slightest use for it, and everything else is in working order, you can easily make a new table for it out of some decent multi-ply.

Welcome to SMC

[Ken Deckelman]

Excellent work on the speakers, they are beautiful!

As far as the band saw, here is my motto:
"Just because it's free does not mean it's a good deal"

The Central Machinery name is from Harbor Freight, so "buying" parts is probably not going to happen, especially since it's 10 years old.

[Jamie Buxton]

Buy it for $0, make a wood table for it, and tune it up as best it can. Even if it doesn't work well, you'll learn lots about bandsaws for nearly zero cost, and you'll be better able to gauge your upgrade.

[Mike Langford]

Buy it for $0, make a wood table for it, and tune it up as best it can. Even if it doesn't work well, you'll learn lots about bandsaws for nearly zero cost, and you'll be better able to gauge your upgrade.


Ditto! ;)

[Art Walker]

Maybe what's broken is not the table casting, but the semicircular trunnions which bolt onto the underside of the table and glide on a support casting which is bolted to the frame? These trunnions seem to be castings in cheesy metal on a lot of the 14" clones, and break commonly; maybe when overloaded while resawing; maybe when knocked over.

Since they're clones, you stand an exceptional chance of being able to replace with trunnion parts from any other clone. Check out the replacement parts list on one of the grizzly 14" lookalike saws, for instance. These seem cheap enough to buy two even if only one of yours is busted - if they differ ever so slightly from yours you will still get a flat table from a matched pair.

I bought a pair fabricated from double-layered 15g steel, brazed at the joints, on ebay to replace a busted set on a near-free craigslist saw. These won't be breaking even if I load the table up resawing.

Art

[Joe Chritz]

I use something similar to that saw for steel.

I added a pulley to slow the speed down and have cut out several knife profiles from tool steel with it.

It could work well for a number of uses.

Joe

[Paul Johnstone]

It all depends.. If you don't see yourself buying a bandsaw any time soon, and you can allocate time to tinker with it, then go for it.

If you have very limited time, then I'd just wait until I saved enough money to buy a better one (search Craig's list/ebay for used ones).

When I first started the hobby, I had more time than money. Now with all the kids activities, long hours at work, etc. I have such little time for hobbies that I don't want to spend any time dickering around with machines. I'm not sure what stage of life you are at. :)

[Kyle Kraft]

TAKE IT!! If it can't be repaired, strip her down for parts. Motor, stand scrap aluminum, etc. Or you could ship it to me, and I'll see what I can do with it!

[rodney mitchell]

I have one of those and it cuts pretty darn well. I bet it is the trunions that are broken. If that is the case, you can order new ones from HF.

Rodney

[joe kuless]

It is indeed the trunions which are broken, not the table, so that is good I suppose. I will go ahead and grab it, worst case it gets recycled and I lose a little money. Wouldn't be the first time a "Free" item cost me money. At the least I will learn what I don't like.

Also thanks for the complements on my speaker project. They sound great too (in case anyone was wondering) :D

Thanks for all your input, and if anyone knows any tweaks for this particular machine, please let me know.

[Wes Bischel]

Joe,
I picked up trunnions for my no-name BS from Grizzly. They were relatively inexpensive.

FWIW,

Wes

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Joe,

You cut curves for the bottom on the endtable so I think the BS will see some use. ;)

Very nice work. Did you wife complain when you pulled that table base (finishing rack for the surround speakers) out of the dumpster and ask "What are you ever going to use THAT for?"

Remember no pics and the gloat didn't happen,